


Hey There, Little Red Riding Hood

by anonymous_sibyl



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-05-12
Updated: 2006-05-12
Packaged: 2017-10-04 03:50:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymous_sibyl/pseuds/anonymous_sibyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's everything a big bad wolf could want.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hey There, Little Red Riding Hood

**Author's Note:**

> A birthday gift for [](http://glossing.livejournal.com/profile)[**glossing**](http://glossing.livejournal.com/). Have a very happy day, darling!
> 
> This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/). None of the media or characters written about in my fanfiction belong to me and I make no profit from these works. 

It's easy, if you know where to look. Sometimes it's one of those articles about ordinary people exhibiting superhuman strength in saving their loved ones. Those are the sweet stories, the touching tales that make you wonder if you could ever be that brave yourself. He reads them over other people's shoulders on the bus and smiles a little when they cry. More often than not, though, it's the other kind of articles, the kind that don't come with a photo, because who wants a picture of that kind of tragedy?

Some people would, sure, so every so often it's the lead on the nightly news. "Up later, teenaged girl slaughters her _entire_ family!" That's tonight's hook, and he stands near the bar and watches, ignores the laughing drunks, and tries to make out where, and what happened, and intently scans all the faces in the crowd behind the reporter.

He's seen them like that four or five times since Sunnydale sank beneath the ground. Dawn always cries, Xander looks stricken, Giles is resigned, Willow thoughtful, and Faith angry. Tonight it's Buffy he sees in the crowd. She's not crying and not angry. She just looks tired.

"Is that local news?"

"Yeah," the bartender nods. "Can you believe that? Girl just up and killed her whole family. Said they were vampires. Crazy."

"Crazy," he murmurs. "Yeah."

It takes him about an hour to hitch his way out to the crime scene. He ducks under the yellow tape and finds a cozy spot to wait, crouching down in a doorway and folding his hands on his knees. She'll be here.

He watches her dust the few vamps the new slayer didn't get, and wonders if they've got any way to save the slayers who get arrested for killing family members. Can't quite march into the police station and explain that Mommy and Daddy got turned into vampires and that there are hundreds of girls in all the world with the strength and the skill to kill them.

She stops dead when she sees him.

"Hey, Buffy. Saw you on the news."

"How'd I look?"

"Pretty," he says. "Tired."

"Pretty tired." She laughs and sits down beside him. "So. Oz."

"So. Buffy."

"How've you been?"

"Good." He has been. "You?"

"Aside from the tired?" She continues when he nods. "Well, tired, mostly. And then there's the tired."

"So, you're tired then."

"Yeah." She drops the bit of wood she'd used on the vampires at their feet, and eases back, shifting her butt from side to side, before stretching her arms over her head and sighing. "We're all tired. I thought… I thought it'd get easier."

"Slaying?"

"Everything."

"That everything. It's tough."

"Yeah."

Buffy makes this noise, this little catchy breath, like she's going to laugh or cry, so he nudges her shoulder with his. "Everything?"

"They're just kids."

"Like you."

"They don't know what they are."

"Like you."

"It's my fault."

"Ah," he says. "That's where you're wrong."

"I made them."

"Was wondering how it happened." He tilts his head so he can see her in the streetlight. "You want to tell me?"

"Nah," she says. "Doesn't matter."

"So you, what, try to find them all?"

"Yes." She fidgets next to him, finally settles in with her arms crossed over her chest. "I have to."

"Then what?"

"I don't know. Pony rides?"

"Excellent plan."

It's cold, just sitting there, and Buffy's shivering in her thin shirt, so Oz twists around until he can wrap his arm around her shoulders. She squirms into his side and tucks her head down. He parts his lips and inhales deeply, tasting her scent over his tongue. She's using a different shampoo than she used to, but the same soap. She smells a little bit like Xander, and a lot like Willow.

"Did you just smell me?"

"Yeah."

"That's kind of gross."

"You smell good."

She turns into his chest. "You smell… smokey. And kind of like trees or something."

"Incense," he says. "I meditate. It helps with the wolf."

"You smell good," she says, and laughs when she realizes she's echoed him. "It's great to see you."

"You, too." He lifts his head up and sniffs the air. "I should go. Willow's near. Probably looking for you."

"Really gross, Oz."

"You have vampire dust in your hair." She giggles and he hugs her tight one last time, brushing his lips over her hair, before standing up. "I'll be watching for you on the news."

"I guess I'll be watching for you at the crime scenes."

"Take care, Buffy."

"You, too."

She's not the first one of the Sunnydale survivors he's seen on the local news, and not the first one he's been less than an hour away from, but she's the first one he went to see. Someday he'll figure out why.


End file.
